JK..how would you handle this situation...
For 1.5 yrs appeared for almost 25 interviews and was short listed in almost 12 companies. Still did not get any offer. Then decided to go for a college program. Class size of that program is almost 50 head count. By the end of program about 10 people have job and coincidentally they are all Canadians or brought up in Canada. Now a company is offering a job with minimum pay package. What will be your course of action. Try to think with the person psychology who was unemployed for almost 3 yrs for now.

I fully empathise with your situation. Though I was not unemployed for that length of time, I HAVE been under employed(security guard, parking attendent, laborer etc) for 2 yrs. I was not even short listed for interviews in my field and was only in 4-5 interviews in my field in those 2 yrs. Plus having the pressure of a new born and wife at home( thus unable to work) to care for the same. I went back to school just like you and at that time my father in law had given me the same advice that I am giving you now . I am also among the 2-3 classmates still in the field, after 8 yrs, out of the original 15(90% of them born here).

I would say start the negotiation process...if the pay is far below the market rate...say that you will consider it but since its below the market rate...you want to know if there are other benefits....also that you look forward to an appraisal in 3 months. Also ask about prospects for growth. Basically let them know, without sounding arrogant, that you deserve more and why. If they refuse to budge...then act depending on your situation. You have always have the option to renegotiate and/or move on later on.

Each situation is unique. There is no definite formula.You can hedge the bets in your favour though. Atleast create the illussion of bargaining from a position of strength without sounding arrogant. Thats a part of 'soft skills' that you keep hearing about.

If you have already made your decision to take the job, irrespective of the pay you negotiated, go and do a good job. Remember its only the beginning and you have all the chance to improve your negotiating skills later on. Look to the future. Nothing is set in stone and time is a great teacher.

Your immediate supervisor in off for a day. His/her manager comes to you and asks you to look into a task. You know very well that your supervisor will not be happy about the task. What would you do?

DIO

"When you hire clowns as Managers, you can see only monkey acts"

Document the request in the form of an email that could begin as "Hi XXX, per your request of <day and time>, I'll follow up and bla bla....". Copy this email to your supervisor and of course the second level mgr who requested the task. Continue to maintain everything said and done in writing.

The above situation is common in an egalitarian work culture (US and Canada) where strict hierarchy of status is not cared for too much.

Also, either the 2nd level mgr is very comfortable approaching you directly based on your competence or fearful/scornful of your immediate supervisor that he/she had to bypass your supervisor.

The first situation is a compliment to you while the second could be handled in a diplomatic way through the documented email I mentioned above.

The documentation would hopefully let your supervisor and his/her supervisor figure out their relationship themselves and strighten it out.

Your immediate supervisor in off for a day. His/her manager comes to you and asks you to look into a task. You know very well that your supervisor will not be happy about the task. What would you do?

DIO

"When you hire clowns as Managers, you can see only monkey acts"

When someone takes a day off for work, they're supposed to delegate work. Their email's supposed to have an OOF that either redirects people to someone else OR asks them to wait a day.

If you're not the one delegated for the work, you can tell the manager politely that you'd love to help, but XXX may have more context on this. And walk him over to the other person and discuss the issue. Start the conversation on the the issue yourself with the delegated resource and wait there till you think the issue has been properly handed over and DR is able to handle it. (Don't just point your supervisor's manager to the new resource and get back to work, that sets a really bad impression)

If you ARE the one delegated for the work, your supervisor has no reason to be unhappy if you handle the task.

-----------------------------------------------------------------Are you there?

Excellent thread,
It will be more helpfull if people can post their interview experiences with the company name.

Like company name
position applied for
location

Does anyone have any interview experience with Telus?
Right now my application is in process at Telus
I am done with first tech interview
background check
aptitude test
it all took me about 3 weeks
now i am waiting for another round of interview?

Last Month I had been to interview for Sr Technical Consultant Position. I remember two Questions very well because I think both these doesn't have right or wrong answer. Its perspective to me. I answered what I felt correct & crossed my mind at that time.

Employer: You will be engaged in Pre Sale Technical activity also. You need to sale Upgrade to your existing customer who had his last upgrade worth millions - 2 years back. New upgrade will cost more than previous.

Response: Looking at the cost involved, I am sure client is one of the Top. I'll study current environment and the benefits that upgrade will bring. I'll look at the current Bottle Neck and Requirements. Technically if it makes sense to me - sure, it will be easier for me to sell.

Employer: About Scheduling and Multitasking with 5-6 Projects/Tasks.

Response: If we are hitting road blocks in the sense that only I could do the job in limited number of hours. I'll let PMs to decide - said that with good . It could happen that I am not initially involved with customers on dead lines. So I wont be able to make calls & I should not be making calls on that without checking with PM. Rather Me going to all the PMs negotiating with dates. Its better if they sit together and chop me in pieces